GOP field slouches toward finish line

SIOUX CITY, Iowa — If the Republican presidential contest were following a classic script, by now we would be seeing signs of that mysterious process — one part reality, one part optical illusion — by which ordinary, hum-drum, life-size politicians manage to transform themselves into different characters.

No longer just a bunch of schlumps on a stage, at least one or two candidates would suddenly seem somehow bigger to the eye, their voices more commanding, their claims of fitness for the planet’s most powerful job more plausible.

Story Continued Below

Here in Iowa, 18 days before caucus voting begins at last, that inexplicable quadrennial transformation is a bit gummed up.

A nearly two-hour debate here Thursday night did not show any of the seven candidates — including front-runners Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney — unambiguously dominating the stage. To the contrary, the evening — the last of an astonishing 13 debates to be held in 2011 — highlighted just how much the candidates are entering the new year defined as much by their vulnerabilities as for their assets.

At the very moment when one or two candidates are usually beginning to surge, in the same way a distance runner has a finishing kick, this pack seems collectively slouching to the finish line.

Gingrich, the new front-runner, was hammered in ways he never was in previous forums, especially on charges that he acted as a high-priced Washington fixer for the troubled housing agency Freddie Mac. These exchanges, which came early in the debate, left him visibly irked and on the defensive. He countered by boasting that at the time of his Freddie Mac work he was “a national figure” and writer of “best-selling books” who did not need to take money (in this case $1.6 million) for causes he did not believe in.

He closed better later in the debate, with self-deprecating comments about his reputation for rhetorical overstatement and several of his signature takedowns of President Barack Obama’s record.

Romney had a mostly fluent outing, and he was able to allow other candidates to do most of the messy work of confronting Gingrich and trying to halt his recent rise in the polls. Even so, his performance — like others this year — was cautious, aimed at avoiding mistakes and rebutting common criticisms rather than establishing himself as the candidate with an authentic claim on the enthusiasms of his party base. He haggled with Fox News questioner Chris Wallace over whether he had flip-flopped on his position over gay rights — he said he’s always been opposed to discrimination, never in favor of same-sex marriage — and says he’s ready to answer attacks from either fellow Republicans or Obama over his record as a private-equity executive at Bain Capital.